No Payne for The Bull
The Hampshire spinner was felled by an Ishant Sharma bouncer that hit him flush on the side of the helmet.
But after dusting himself off, Dawson regained his composure to make an unbeaten 66 that helped Alastair Cook’s men post 477 in their first innings of this Fourth Test.
Dawson’s knock was the highest by an England Test player on debut at No.8 or lower in the order, beating the 65 Darren Gough made from No.9 against New Zealand at Old Trafford in 1994.
Much has been made by coach Trevor Bayliss of Dawson’s character and composure.
And that fighting spirit was evident during an innings that bailed out England after they had slipped to 321-7 following the loss of three early wickets.
“It’s nice to do well on debut,” said Dawson. “It was an interesting first few balls in Test cricket for me but I was pleased to get through.
“I haven’t got a clue where it hit me but I was all right. It must have hit a good part of the helmet as I felt fine.
“The first 20 balls were probably the most nervous I have ever been but thankfully I came through it.
“It’s my Test debut so I was always going to be up for it – there was absolutely no question about that.
“I’ve never experienced this type of pressure before but I think I’m dealing with it pretty well.
“You only make one Test debut and I was extremely excited and from a team TERRY JENKINS survived a first-set wobble to overcome Josh Payne in the first round of the World Championships at Alexandra Palace yesterday.
The Bull, who has rarely shown his best form at the biggest tournament of the year, progressed 3-1.
He had to fight back from 1-0 down, though, after missing six darts to take the opening set.
Scotland’s John Henderson lost 3-2 to England’s Andrew Gilding. Phil Taylor begins his campaign for an astonishing 17th world title tonight when he faces the winner of the qualifying match between John Bowles and David Platt. Another former world champion, Mark Webster – the 2008 BDO champion – is also in first-round action today as he takes on Joe Murnan. BRENDAN KEANE